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His real name is Alexandre Jouan-Arcady and his pseudonymous surname is formed of the first 2 letters of his full name. He was born in Paris, France, and is the son of French pied-noir director Alexandre Arcady and French cinema critic Marie-Jo Jouan.

Haute Tension, released in 2003 in France and in 2005 in the U.S., placed Aja on the map for the horror movie genre. The French slasher, though sticking to horror convention, pushed the gore and tension envelope. The film is an unauthorized reinterpretation of the novel "Intensity" by Dean Koontz. Favouring make-up effects over computer-generated imagery, the film quickly found respect among horror fans. It was released in the U.S. as High Tension after some editing. The film was nominated for grand prize at the Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival and earned Aja awards for best direction and best fantasy film at the Catalonian International Film Festival.

American director Wes Craven asked Aja to come up with a concept for the remake of his 1977 film The Hills Have Eyes after seeing High Tension. Craven subsequently asked Aja to direct the movie, which was released with an R rating in the U.S. after an extensive amount of editing.[1]

His next project was a horror film entitled Mirrors, about a mysterious mirror that brings out the worst aspects of people whenever they look at themselves in it. The film is a remake of the K-Horror film Into the Mirror. Aja directed Piranha 3D, a horror movie about prehistoric piranhas in Arizona.[2] It is a remake of the film Piranha.[3]

Because Alexandre Aja was working on Mirrors, he did not direct the sequel to The Hills Have Eyes 2, which was released on 10 March 2007.[4]